Unheard :A nyctophilic's voice

Dear Change Seekers,

You have worked hard to make India a safer place. In 2012-13, the Delhi gang rape dominated headlines
and received worldwide attention,mainly due to your efforts. However, be mindful of certain worrisome
negative aspects of this outrage. You may create a lot of noise, but not the desired change or maybe
the change you tried to make would last for a specific period of time and then vanish. Your efforts are
praiseworthy but to ensure an indelible impression it is important to understand India first.

India, no matter what our political ethics may shout, is not a secular country nor it promotes equilty. In
present contexts, we are living in a country where the downtrodden ones are getting neglected at every
step and the elite ones are marching towards progress . The entire India is basically grouped into four
basic groups of people and the upper ones belonging to this section are constantly draining out the
potential of the lower ones, utilising them for feeding their daily requirements making the best possible
use of money and fame for a deteriorated and unhealthy motive.

We live in a land where the isolated power to run the government lies in the hands of our political
masters, the ones who deliberately treat us as mere puppets in their hands. They are the ones who
control India, and despite the wants and diswants of the people,they impose their strict laws upon the
people not caring even a bit about the public reaction and response in that regard. In 2016, NEET was a
starmark in the news headlines. Every morning, one will wake up to a new surprise. If one day, the paper
will be speaking of the final declaration of the decision to allow the individual states to hold their own
state level medical entrances, the next day you will find the headline reading, " The Supreme Court has
postponed the final hearing of neet decision till.... " , and thus, why should they care for the students
and the repercussions such rapid changes in decisions have on them. Why should one bother?

The cornerstone of a country, the control room containing the levers that manipulate the economy and
society, is the government. In a democracy, the government is born out of politics. The kind of politics
we have, the way voters think and the kind of people we elect are the ones upon which the fate of the
nation lies. Politicians are replaceable. What is more important is what we, as voters, need to change
about ourselves, in our behaviour and thinking, to ensure that our part in making our country a
progressive one is successfully accomplished.

The industrialists and capitalists are the ones who help secure and increase the power of these
politicians; they have set a mind that none can ever twitch their decision ,the general public may shout,
carry out revolts and give bandhs, numerous protests may be carried out but ultimately they are the
sole rulers. The power is in their hands and today's corrupt hands are sufficient to shut up the voices of
even the most roaring soul. Ultimately, dirty politics thrives and the ones who knows the real dirty
picture behind every mind boggling scam can do nothing more than just keeping their mouths shut.
Every now and then, we come across business magazines with their cover pages adorned with the
pictures of these so-called role models, honouring them with terms like, ' the dynamic entrepreneur of a
new, liberalised India. ' While there are some who deserve such accolades, there are also others who
makes no sense to belong to that list. The political leaders and these industrialists share a worthy give
and take relation.The latter helps in promoting the former, while the former lays the base of their
growing profit. Real estate, mining, infrastructure and most other sectors - no company in India thrives
without the support of the political class.

The third class of people found in India are the ones like you and me. We are the ones with a certain
amount of affluence and education. For us, life follows Darwinism survival theory. We are the ones who
needs to be constantly engrossed in a race for living a better life, once our eyes gets distracted from our
track, we will find someone else living the life which was supposedly meant to be ours. We are the ones
who easily gets befooled by the media.The youth of today are the targets of all media campaign. Films,
advertisement, songs and many TV and radio programmes are being produced keeping the taste of the
youth in favour. It is sufficient to study youth culture to realize where young people get inspiration for
their lifestyle, patterns of behaviour and dress codes.

The media offer youth instant substitute - identities through tinsel heroes, romantic filmy sequences,
male and female stereotypes. These moments of being 'in' provide the refreshing break from the
boredom of parental concern and tradition ,which in the long run demotivates the youth from a richer
and healthier purpose to live for. The youth, being the foundation of a country's future must be aware
enough to analyze through a perspective eye in order to see the falsity in such soap - bubble solutions
which are cardinaly meant for attracting youth and utilising them for the company's selfish goals.

The last class of people residing in India are the ones with limited education, abysmal standards of living
and with the mildest hope for a better future. They include the farmers, slum dwellers and domestic
helpers and the millions of people living in the streets with their bare bodies exposed to the chilling cold,
the ones who goes to bed empty stomach, the ones who die everyday before their death. Sufferings are
their backbone, and thus they get no debates on TV,no one literally cares to hear what a boy of 14
working in a hotel has to say of his country. Why should one care? Nobody could dare say anything wih
slightest alteration or stress the Indian reality without being ridiculed.

Most importantly, any person speaking for the oppressed section in our country, are often subjected to
ignorance or shouted down in debates. They are labelled as fence - sitters, opportunists, or indecisive,
confused, contradictory or weak. We do realize that there are problems in our system, in our
temperament, in our approach to life. However, this realization strikes us and makes us shout for justice
only when we become a victim of such frauds. But, in case, we see our fellow beings in such a
disheartening situation, the question which strikes us is, " Why should I go and think of him? I have my
life, my own problems. He has got people there to solve his issues." . Just like you, maybe every single
person is sitting and thinking that he has people to help him sort his problems; in case, this chain
continues who will be genuinely present to address his issues? No one... thus, leaving him dejected,
adding another name to the list of depression or to a greater extent making way for a new suicide case.
Respected elders, life is precious for us and we know it's worth. Everytime a young boy or a girl commits
suicide, don't tag him or her as a weak soul. Maybe he was fighting a psychological war, and maybe his
problems never found an outlet to be expressed and thereby his emotions overpowered his rationality,
forcing him to take up such a step. Rather than condemning such activities, it will be much appreciable if
you try to help the ones who are in a perplexed state of mind; understand their mindset and accept
their way of thinking and then try to change it if required. You are the ones who can prevent two more
suicide cases, it's only you. Someone has to do it; let that someone be you.

Spurring reform in a nation requires homogeneity in thought. People should agree as a whole on what
are the issues that should be given topmost priority and then make a way for solving them out.Our
people have a tendency to give their personal problems an extended and exagerrated level of priority ,
while discouraging and fooling around if the same problems are faced by a fellow being. Are we, fated
to disagree with our conventions? Making a nation progressive lies in the hands of every single person
living in this society; it takes more than just Twitter or Facebook outrage, street protest and a toppling
of governments in elections. It asks for a fundamental shift in societal values, culture and habits.

"In the presence of greatness pettiness disappears. In the absence of a great dream, pettiness prevails" -
Robert Fritz.

No messiah is going to come and uproot all the mess happening around the world. Change seekers, if
you are dreaming for a change you have to accept the niggling feeling that perhaps something is wrong
with us-that no law or leader can fix society unless the society wants to fix itself. The realization that we
are responsible for the mess we are in - is the best hope that could demand for a change and evoke the
lost humanity.

It's not always them, but we, who have to solve our problems - problems of our fellow being ,in a long
run problems of our society. There's no loss in contributing whatever possible can be done for the
betterment of the society in the short span of time we live. No one knows when death would knock at
our doorstep, before that, it's better to live a worthy life rather than a mundane one.

Until we, as a society, really feel that graft, unethical behaviour and nepotism are huge problems, and
start to truly care about all of them, we cannot accept the system to change.We are well equipped with
the misuse of power ,we see shady businesses being conducted, state coffers being looted or politicians
placing self-interest above national interest.But,we choose to stay silent preassuming that it's none of
our business and it would not bring any change with our trials. Abuse of power is something we talk only
in public. Deep down, we are complicit. We want our political leaders not to abuse us, but if so practice
should begin at home. For instance, cast a glance at the status of domestic help in India. How do the
elite ones treat them? Most importantly, there are a class of people who have completely effaced the
sense of humanity from their roots and thereby don't hinder entrusting inhumane treatment to their
fellow beings, to worsen up the cause, they don't even bother to care for the self-esteem esteem of the
downtrodden ones. When we ourselves have no qualms abusing our power, it is difficult to attack others
for doing so. The society needs to reflect on what we turned ourselves to be and how much we are
faking it. More than anything, shouting for a change won't work at its own and reform the nation; for a
change, we need to change ourselves, and see the change in doing so. A society without values cannot
survive or function .When this realization dawns upon a larger section of the society, the country will
surely gleam with a ray of new hope. When long - overdue reflection and shame strikes us, India will be
ready for change. After a long list of exposes and exclusive covers unveiling the frauds of corrupted
leaders over the past few years, it's time to carry our a survical analyses on ourselves and expose the
flaws of ours in encouraging dilapidation.

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch had been passed
to a new generation "- Phonindro Kumar Dev Choudhary

Ankita Boruah

Department of Chemistry,Cotton University

Ex- brookian (2014-16 batch)